Water experts envision funding gap for infrastructure repairs throughout Massachusetts

Editor’s Note: This is the second installment of a Taunton Daily Gazette series, Our Aging Infrastructure, examining the region’s crumbling gas, water, sewer and transportation systems.

TAUNTON — Water experts anticipate a $21 billion funding gap over the next 20 years as they advocate for updating the state’s water infrastructure.

“I’ve always classified water and wastewater as the forgotten infrastructure,” said Joe Favaloro, executive director of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority’s advisory board. “When you turn on the faucet one day and nothing comes out, then you realize you have a problem.”

In 2013, an average of 202.7 million gallons flowed through the MWRA’s water system, sections of which are nearly a century old.

“You don’t want to paint this bleak picture, but having said that, we have an infrastructure that’s nearing 100 years old in many sections,” Favaloro said.

The two-decade, $21 billion funding gap was a conclusion drawn from a 2012 Massachusetts Water Infrastructure Financing Commission report.

When it comes to funding public budgets, particularly during lean fiscal cycles, infrastructure often draws the short straw, said Martin Pillsbury, environmental director at the Metropolitan area Planning Council.

“Infrastructure’s the last thing on the list,” he said. “It usually gets deferred unless there’s a crisis.”

Although there are some state loans available, the main funding source for water infrastructure comes from local water bill payments.

“The problem becomes that it’s very difficult to raise rates to a high enough level to really cover the cost completely,” Pillsbury said. “It’s not unlike asking for a tax increase, even though it’s really not a tax increase. It’s a fee for what you use.”

Maintaining approximately 125,000 miles of sewer lines, more than 100 municipal wastewater treatment plants and thousands of drinking water wells is typically the responsibility of cities and towns.

Taunton is in a better position than most municipalities across the commonwealth in terms keeping up with water line infrastructure maintenance, according to Cathal O’Brien, Water Division Supervisor of Taunton’s Department of Public Works.

O’Brien said having an enterprise system for both water and sewer divisions has gone a long way in paying for improvement projects across the city.

He also credits the foresight of recent mayors and City Councils for ensuring that the city is self-sufficient when it comes to keeping up with water-related infrastructure demands.

“Taunton during the past 10 years has been way ahead of the curve,” O’Brien said.

But he cautions that a city’s water system in not unlike that of a human body: Both require round-the-clock maintenance, O’Brien said.

Taunton, geographically one of the largest cities in the state, has 200 miles of water lines and around 150 miles of sewer lines underneath, he said.

O’Brien said he’s been consulting with Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. and the City Council to come up with a new 10-year capitalization-projects plan to address all infrastructure concerns. The new plan, he said, will replace the city’s 2000 master plan.

Hoye said the city has been efficient in keeping up with water-main demands.

“I think we’ve done a good job — we’ve lined lots of pipes,” he said.

Hoye said the task has been challenging, in part because of attrition of staffing levels at the DPW during the past 25 years.

But he also said former city leaders left a legacy of leaving infrastructure problems to the next generation for too long. “There was a tendency during the past 50 years to put things off,” Hoye said.

He attributes part of the problem to a two-year election cycle, whereby a mayor and Council often doesn’t have a chance to finish a major undertaking.

Hoye said the city has been particularly successful in utilizing low-interest state, revolving funds to pay for long-term infrastructure projects of all kinds.

DPW Commissioner Fred Cornaglia said during the past decade, Taunton has taken advantage of $90 million in 20-year SRF loans for water and sewer projects.

O’Brien says Taunton, overall, is “in good shape right now,” in terms of water-main upgrades. But he warns that “what got us here will not keep us here.”

O’Brien stressed the importance of the credo known as operations and maintenance.

“The money we pay for our bills all go into O and M — it puts us all on notice,” O’Brien said. “Sticking to O and M keeps us stable, because the question always is ‘How do you do it tomorrow?’”

Transportation infrastructure, another area some have called neglected, is getting attention in state government in the form of a bond bill.

While water infrastructure hasn’t been a major issue on Beacon Hill, some, including state Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Acton, and state Rep. Carolyn Dykema, D-Holliston, have called for greater investment.

Pillsbury said the approach has to be multifaceted, with municipal governments, the federal government and the state government all contributing.

“It’s a substantial gap,” Favaloro said. “It can’t be done in one year. It can’t be done in a few years. It has to be a solid commitment moving forward.”

— Gerry Tuoti is the Regional Newsbank Editor for GateHouse Media New England. Email him at gtuoti@tauntongazette.com or call him at 508-967-3137.

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